Parallel File Systems

This page contains information on the Lustre, GPFS, and VAST file systems. These parallel file systems are designed to efficiently handle large volumes of data from many client processes. Most LC machines are connected to Lustre, an open source parallel file system. However, each CORAL machine is connected to its own IBM GPFS parallel file system (also known as Spectrum Scale).

GPFS File System

In all cases, the GPFS filesystems exist only on their individual clusters.

Zone	Machine	Mount	Capacity (PiB)
CZ	Lassen	/p/gpfs1	24
RZ	RZAnsel	/p/gpfs1	1.5
SCF	Sierra	/p/gpfs1	140

Lustre File System

NOTE Large systems such as Quartz, Jade, RZTopaz, and Zin have significantly more bandwidth to Lustre.

System details can be found on LC Confluence.

CZ File System	Mount	Capacity (PiB)
lustre1	/p/lustre1 (/p/czlustre1 on rzslic)	15
lustre2	/p/lustre2 (/p/czlustre2 on rzslic)	24
lustre3	/p/lustre3 (only on oslic, rzslic, surface, pascal)	8
RZ File System	Mount	Capacity (PiB)
lustre1	/p/lustre1	20
SCF File System	Mount	Capacity (PiB)
lustre1	/p/lustre1	15
lustre2	/p/lustre2	15
SNSI File System	Mount	Capacity (PiB)
lustre1	/p/lustre1	2.5

VAST File System

VAST is a new platform for use in the CZ. Details on the VAST deployment can be found in Technical Bulletin #538.

CZ File System	Mount	Initial Capacity (PiB)
vast1	/p/vast1 (/p/czvast1 on rzslic)	5.2

Quotas

Quotas will be in place to monitor and regulate both the total amount of data and the total number of files (or inodes) used by a particular user. The implementation will include both hard quotas and soft quotas. A hard quota will prevent new file writes from succeeding until the user has freed up space below the quota threshold. The soft quota is a lower threshold, set at 90% of the hard threshold and is equal to the user's quota. When the soft quota is hit, it starts a grace period for the user to clear space or files before having all writes blocked. During this grace period, I/O performance will likely be throttled. Once that probationary period is exceeded and the user has not yet reduced usage below their quota, the soft quota becomes a hard quota and new writes will fail.

There are 3 levels of quotas for users, as shown below. Movement of a user from Tier 1 to Tier 2 is permanent and may be requested using the following form or contacting the LC Hotline. For those needing further capacity or number of files, they can provide justification for a custom amount to their account coordinator who can then implement the change for up to six months.

LC Storage Type	Tier 1	Tier 2	Tier 3	Snap- shots?	Back up to tape?
Parallel File Systems /p/lustre* (Lustre) /p/gpfs* (OCF- pending deployment) /p/vast*†	20TB/1M^†^†	75TB/25M^†^† Fill out this form to request Tier 2 increase	Contact LC Hotline to initiate conversation with Livermore Computing and programmatic stakeholders	No	No
Parallel File Systems /p/gpfs* (Sierra GPFS)	50TB/5M^†^†	400TB/40M^†^† Fill out this form to request Tier 2 increase		No	No
NAS/NFS Project /usr/workspace, /usr/WS* /usr/gapps^† /usr/gdata^†	2TB/10M^†^† 10GB^† 10GB^†	4TB/25M†† 30GB^† 30GB^† Fill out this form to request Tier 2 increase		Yes Yes Yes	No Yes Yes
Home Directory /g/g*	24GB	Tier 2 form not available. Contact LC Hotline to initiate conversation with Livermore Computing and programmatic stakeholders		Yes	Yes
Archive (HPSS) /users/u*	300TB			No	No

^†these quotas are per directory, not per user as in all other cases

^†^†NOTE for quotas with a "/", the second number equals inode limits in M (million) number increments where appropriate.